Gone, without a trace. Mass disappearances are a very real and bizarre thing in which large numbers of people suddenly disappear without a trace, for seemingly no reason. Sometimes, an airplane full of passengers flies off into the night, never to be seen again, or a ghost ship turns up floating around in the water […]
The post 10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Vanished appeared first on Listverse.

Comets go missing. Yes, we know that sounds weird. Comets are huge and have distinctive tails, so they tend to stand out. And it isn't like they can be stolen by aliens, or something. Nevertheless, sometimes they just disappear. Missing comets are a puzzle to astronomers. Most of the time, they suspect the comet broke […]
The post 10 Comets That Have Gone Missing appeared first on Listverse.

Except for scientists who experiment on lab rats, many people scream at the sight of these creatures or try to kill them. The blanket perception is that rats are useless vermin. However, the truth is more unusual. These highly intelligent mammals have jobs in the military and medical sectors. They rescue their fellow rats and […]
The post Top 10 Surprising Abilities And Facts About Rats appeared first on Listverse.

More often than not, we look back at the religious practices of old and even the ones still carried out today with anything from a raised eyebrow to a nauseating sense of moral disgust. It’s been fairly well-documented in scientific literature that humans act out in violence as a last resort, trying to stake their […]
The post 10 Civilizations That Sacrificed Human Children appeared first on Listverse.

One out of four humans will die due to a sexually transmitted disease. It’s something that we’ve all been taught to protect ourselves from, even if everyone isn’t as diligent as they should be. However, while many sexually transmitted illnesses are commonly known to affect humans, we aren't the only species on the planet that […]
The post 10 Sexually Transmitted Infections Found In Animals appeared first on Listverse.

To help you end the week on a positive note, we have gathered into one list all the news that might lift your spirits. This is where you’ll find a nice mix of feel-good stories combined with significant achievements and tales of true togetherness. If you prefer something weird and wacky, check out the offbeat […]
The post 10 Uplifting Stories To Get You Through The Week (1/20/19) appeared first on Listverse.

We all know the old phrase, "You can't always believe what you see," but sometimes, even what we think are facts can't stand up to scrutiny. And even when a notion is proven wrong, it can continue to be accepted as true for some time. There are things that we believe are self-evident, even scientifically […]
The post 10 Things Believed To Exist (That Really Don’t) appeared first on Listverse.

The race to colonize Mars is ongoing. However, it is not as easy as sending over people to live in igloo cities. We’ve already discussed the obstacles that astronauts must overcome on a voyage to Mars. But there’s far more to mystify us and conquer once we get there. The Red Planet’s geology is not […]
The post Top 10 Quirky And Rare Facts About Martian Geology appeared first on Listverse.

With another week in the history books, it is time to check the headlines. Morris’s list covers all the crucial stuff going on in the world, while we focus more on the strange and wacky here. We step into the world of music this week with tales about feuding neighbors, an unusual art installation, and […]
The post 10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (1/19/19) appeared first on Listverse.

With their microscopic size, bacteria are everywhere[1] and can perform feats that are unachievable for beings like us. In recent times, we have shown you some truly extraordinary microorganisms, such as bacteria that eat radioactive waste. However, there are certain species of these little creatures with abilities that we could say are true superpowers. Now, […]
The post 10 Types Of Bacteria With Real Superpowers appeared first on Listverse.

Keeping up with the news is hard. So hard, in fact, that we've decided to save you the hassle by rounding up the most significant, unusual, or just plain old mind-blowing stories each week. This week was one marked by just how little seemed to be changing, in the US and UK at least. In […]
The post 10 Mind-Blowing Things That Happened This Week (1/18/19) appeared first on Listverse.

Often, scientific studies are meant to advance our understanding of the world, providing us with irreplaceable tools to solve our daily problems. Occasionally, though, science goes beyond the necessary and enters the realm of the ridiculous just because the scientists didn't have anything better to do that day. Ever hear a child ask stupid questions […]
The post 10 Ridiculously Elaborate Scientific Studies No One Asked For appeared first on Listverse.

Question: Did you eat today? The answer is probably yes. Now, do you know where your food came from? We don’t think much about the food we eat every day, but many of the delicious treats we shove down our throats have fascinating histories. From a Michelin Star-worthy Mesolithic caviar, to Caucasian wine that warmed […]
The post 10 Amazing Histories Behind The World’s Favorite Foods appeared first on Listverse.

For most of us, memory is the cornerstone of who we are. Our past defines us and shapes both who were are now and who we will become. Many of us deliberately set out to make memories that we can enjoy later. It is commonly known that memories fade a little with age, and conditions […]
The post 10 People With Amnesia Who Literally Lost Their Minds appeared first on Listverse.

Odors are things that we probably do not pay much attention to. We just tend to prefer pleasant scents and stay away from unpleasant odors. However, there is more to these smells. For instance, that chlorine odor we perceive in pools is not chlorine. And the smell of a new car is surprisingly dangerous to […]
The post 10 Fascinating Facts About Common Odors appeared first on Listverse.

Automobiles have come a long way since Karl Benz created the first car in 1885. (Karl Benz did not actually invent the car, but we will get to that shortly.) Several features we take for granted in today's cars were not originally standard. For instance, the first cars did not have steering wheels or top […]
The post 10 Curious Firsts In The History Of Motoring appeared first on Listverse.

They happen every day, out of sight, out of mind—completely accidental poisonings of regular people. In fact, tens of thousands are poisoned each year in the United States from Tylenol alone.[1] If we were to wake up and look around, take a stroll through the rooms in our homes, and note all of the various […]
The post 10 Poisonings With Extraordinarily Common Household Items appeared first on Listverse.

Cutting-edge technology allows researchers to get creative with their goals. Quirkiness in the name of science is bound to produce something unusual. From octopuses that are plied with Ecstasy and people reading each other’s thoughts to a reality that exists only when looked at, scientists are breaking new ground. However, as with all experiments, not […]
The post 10 Social And Biological Experiments With Freaky Results appeared first on Listverse.

Do you ever dream that you could be paid to do nothing? Instead of being held down by a job, you could read books or surf the web as much as you wanted. Sound impossible? Well, sometimes, the fates align in such a way that people actually end up making money for doing little more […]
The post Top 10 Ways People Got Paid To Do Nothing appeared first on Listverse.

Most people these days accept that mermaids are a charming myth, symbolizing the power of nature over man or a cautionary reminder that things are not always as they seem at first sight. Of course, there’s also the old metaphor of women as temptresses, luring helpless men to their destruction with their devilishly feminine wiles. […]
The post 10 Totally Reliable (Mostly) Sane People Who Have Seen A Mermaid appeared first on Listverse.

We really don’t realize how lucky we are until we take a look back at the medical history books and recognize that most surgical practices during the Victorian era (1837–1901) were basically medieval. Between the 1840s and the mid-1890s, there were some radical changes in the operating room which went on to become a surgical […]
The post 10 Gruesome And Shocking Facts About Victorian Surgery appeared first on Listverse.

Being born is among the hardest things any creature will ever do. Going from a single cell to a fully formed organism ready to face the world is a path we all take. However, no two species face the exact same struggle to be born, and there are quite a variety of odd life cycles […]
The post 10 Weirdest Life Cycles In Nature appeared first on Listverse.

January is a month that generally gets a pretty bad rap. It has all the darkness and subzero temperatures of December minus the festive fun stuff. It is a month that most of us just want to get out of the way as soon as possible. There is a lot more to January than work […]
The post 10 Historical Facts That Will Change How You Think About January appeared first on Listverse.

Where there is great expansion, there is almost always great decay. This is the way of life, that when things grow, they do so by processes which neglect certain parts of their composition, necessarily leaving behind things which no longer suit the needs of the organism (or superorganism) so that it can adapt to its […]
The post 10 Times Corporations Poisoned People En Masse appeared first on Listverse.

If the happenings of the past week have got you down, perhaps this list can cheer you up a bit. Here we only talk about stories that are positive, amusing, or inspirational. Meanwhile, you can also check the Saturday offbeat list for a glimpse at some of the most bizarre news items that made the […]
The post 10 Uplifting Stories To Get You Through The Week (1/13/19) appeared first on Listverse.

An allergic reaction happens when the immune system gets overprotective. Once something relatively harmless is perceived as a threat, the resulting "defensive attack" can leave a person with a stuffed nose or life-threatening anaphylactic shock. The world of allergies is not just about symptoms. Things get downright bizarre. From the transfer of someone else’s allergy […]
The post Top 10 Amazingly Strange Facts About Allergies appeared first on Listverse.

Scientific theories are not definite. They can always be proved and disproved. That's why if we dig deeper into history, we will find it filled with some crazy theories that used to be accepted as true. As an example, it was once believed that the traits of a woman's ex could be transferred to a […]
The post 10 Crazy Scientific Theories That Used To Be Accepted As True appeared first on Listverse.

On Listverse, another Saturday means another list which looks at some of the strangest news stories to make the rounds over the last few days. There is also the Friday list which explores the crucial topics of the week. We start off the new year with multiple science stories covering a variety of fields. We […]
The post 10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (1/12/19) appeared first on Listverse.

Trains have been staples of our travel, shipping, and overall culture for a long time. Over the centuries, trains have grown up and expanded from the humble steam-powered versions of old to the modern, technologically advanced, driverless trains which cross entire continents with ease today and serve as the backbones of our transportation infrastructures. In […]
The post 10 People Who Actually Survived Getting Hit By A Train appeared first on Listverse.

Businesses have only one goal: profits. And they will usually go to any length to get them, even if it means tricking their customers or using gray zone tactics that are neither legal nor illegal. Big businesses have several secrets they do not want us to know. Obviously, we will spend less money on their […]
The post 10 Secrets Businesses Don’t Want You To Know appeared first on Listverse.

DNA is present in every living thing, including humans. It carries our genetic information, passing our traits onto the next generation. It also allows us to trace our origins down to our earliest ancestors. It also works the other way. By analyzing the DNA of ancient humans and prehumans and comparing it with ours, we […]
The post 10 Shocking Discoveries We Uncovered From Analyzing Ancient DNA appeared first on Listverse.

Keeping up with the news is hard. So hard, in fact, that we've decided to save you the hassle by rounding up the most significant, unusual, or just plain old mind-blowing stories each week. And my, my, my, wasn't our first full week of 2019 a busy one for news? After a short hiatus, the […]
The post 10 Mind-Blowing Things That Happened This Week (1/11/19) appeared first on Listverse.

We have plenty of things living on and in us. Most of the organisms that reside on or in us are not only perfectly natural but perfectly healthy as well. From the bacteria and fungi that dwell on our skin to the microflora that call our gut home, most of these creatures actually help us […]
The post 10 Insanely Scary Parasitizations Of The Human Body appeared first on Listverse.

Mankind’s spiritual history is packed with interesting snippets. In recent times, archaeologists have discovered some of the oldest sites of worship with hidden worlds under cathedrals and art not seen in centuries. When it comes to the religious arena, however, archaeology can step on a few nerves. These days, eyewitnesses and science can shake the […]
The post 10 Religious Places With Intriguing Facts And Fakes appeared first on Listverse.

One of the most baffling mysteries in human history has been trying to explain the incredible feat of engineering that resulted in the Great Pyramids of Egypt. For thousands of years, historians, architects, and scientists have tried to come up with their best explanations for these massive constructions. To this day, the mystery is still […]
The post 10 Most Plausible Pyramid Construction Theories appeared first on Listverse.

Quantum computing is a major trend in computer science. It's jaw-dropping to think that it all started from observing the weird properties of light! There have been several pioneers in quantum computing, the main one being Richard Feynman—he explained that quantum computers are feasible and that they are the future of computing. Quantum computers have […]
The post Top 10 Unexpected Future Applications Of Quantum Computers appeared first on Listverse.

Kidnapping is a grievous offense punishable by long prison terms. For the abductee and their relatives, it is usually a period of suspense, especially when the kidnappers demand some huge ransom with the threat of killing the victim. But what about instances when the kidnapped is also the kidnapper? Fake abductions are more common than […]
The post 10 People Who Faked Their Own Kidnappings appeared first on Listverse.

There is a very thin line—one that’s easy to cross and even easier to blur in the field of medicine—where ethical experimentation and the malicious pursuit of knowledge through unethical means meet and perhaps even overlap. What is ethical science in the world of human subjects, and who’s to be the judge of that? Is […]
The post 10 Nonconsensual Experiments That Led To Medical Advancements appeared first on Listverse.

They were the largest animals to fly. Pterodactyls thrived from around 230 million to 66 million years ago but left behind few fossils. Every new bone can reveal more about the lives of these predatory reptiles. In fact, they are changing the way pterosaurs looked, existed, and ultimately died out. Even so, their complete story […]
The post 10 Unusual Finds And Studies Involving Pterosaurs appeared first on Listverse.

New York City is well-known for its bustling Times Square, towering skyline, and Broadway theater shows. Yet, New York, like many big cities, has a storied history, and some of the buildings there have seen such tragic events that they are more notorious for their unfortunate pasts than their desirable architecture. Many ghost hunters and […]
The post 10 Most Haunted Buildings In New York City And Their Backstories appeared first on Listverse.

When you think of the words “illusion” and “hallucination,” you may think of a crazy person seeing something that isn't there. But there are many more types that are not discussed as frequently. You don't need to be crazy to experience illusions and hallucinations, and many of them are not things that are seen. Both […]
The post Top 10 Unbelievable Types Of Illusions And Hallucinations appeared first on Listverse.

Stars made almost all the matter we enjoy today, so you could say they’re important. Either by exploding in nuclear hellfire or by smashing into each other, various stellar bodies created the elements that make the Internet—and the people who invented the Internet—possible. Stars do all sorts of crazy things. Like belch massive clouds of […]
The post 10 Amazing Acts Of Stellar Chaos appeared first on Listverse.

Suicide is an epidemic that we tend to think of as a modern thing. While suicide rates have gotten worse in the US[1] and are projected to get worse in developing countries, humans have been taking their own lives for about as long as we’ve had the tools and knowledge to do so. It's a […]
The post 10 People Who Survived Suicide Attempts By Gunshot To The Head appeared first on Listverse.

Considering the enormous size of Greenland, it is surprising how easily most people forget that it even exists. This northern giant ranks low in popularity due to the harsh climate, darkness, isolation, and difficulty of reaching Greenland in the first place. However, in recent years, the island has attracted more tourists and businesses than ever […]
The post 10 Things You Might Not Know About Greenland appeared first on Listverse.

More than 80 years ago, American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and her navigator Frederick “Fred” Noonan disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. Earhart had become famous worldwide as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and her next challenge was to fly around the entire world. Many had […]
The post 10 Conspiracy Theories For The Disappearance Of Amelia Earhart appeared first on Listverse.

For many, the Christmas holidays are a time of celebration, gift giving, and overeating. For others, they can be a real downer. We are here to offer a modicum of assistance by presenting you with a list full of inspiring, positive, and amusing stories to help lift your spirits. If you are more entertained by […]
The post 10 Uplifting Stories To Get You Through The Week (1/6/19) appeared first on Listverse.

Most graves are rather sedate affairs. Memorial stones typically contain the names, dates of birth and death, and brief and respectable epitaphs that tell you nothing about the person buried beneath them. The meaning behind some memorials may never be known, particularly when those who knew the deceased are dead and gone themselves. For some […]
The post 10 Fabulous Graves (Almost) Worth Dying For appeared first on Listverse.

We have all heard a lot about ghosts, vampires, and medieval dragons. Due to their extraordinary nature, all these creatures have become popular around the world and have attracted the attention of experts and curious alike. However, golems[1] are mythical beings that have not captured such interest, despite having existed anecdotally for centuries. Occasionally, we […]
The post 10 Intriguing Facts You Need To Know About Golems appeared first on Listverse.

It might be a new year, but the world is just as strange and silly as ever. That’s why this list is here to present you some of the oddest stories that made the headlines this week. What better way to start off 2019 on Listverse than to talk about mysteries and aliens? There’s been […]
The post 10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (1/5/19) appeared first on Listverse.

Humans are not really considered apex predators because there are several animals that can and sometimes will prey on us. But even the wildest of these animals don't just go around hunting us, and most prefer to keep their distance. However, this was not always the situation. For much of our evolutionary history, we were […]
The post 10 Animals That Hunted Our Ancestors appeared first on Listverse.

Like a shadow, history is attached to every pot shard, pebble, and bone. Nothing on this Earth is without a backstory. Archaeology is all about finding these missing shadows and sewing them together to better understand bygone times. Rare stories are particularly valuable. They offer glimpses into the personal lives of ancient business owners and […]
The post 10 Rare Artifacts With Fascinating Backstories appeared first on Listverse.

The span of human history has seen many extremes in medicine that have gone horrifically wrong. This linear narrative of trial and error to help the diseased among us has had mixed results. Particularly in the Middle Ages, the Western world was trapped somewhere between ancient medicine, relying largely on ideas by Greek thinkers and […]
The post 10 Weird Medieval Medical Practices That Actually Work appeared first on Listverse.

Sleeping is normally a peaceful activity. When we retire to bed at night, most of us do not feel the need to bolt the doors and hide the keys. Nor do we padlock the fridge or lock away sharp objects. But for the one percent of the adult population who regularly sleepwalk (e.g. at least […]
The post 10 Things Sleepwalkers Do (Other Than Walk In Their Sleep) appeared first on Listverse.

We all know that babies are gross. That’s just a fact of life. Parents are often surprised by how gross their lives have become after their little ones are born. Diaper changes lose their shock value, the smell of spit-up clings to everything, and eating food that’s been on the floor becomes totally normal. That’s […]
The post 10 Gross And Horrible Facts About Babies appeared first on Listverse.

Off the beaten track is one thing, but there are places in the world that the hardiest, most intrepid adventurers would think twice about traveling to. Whether because the climate is so harsh, or the place is so remote, some destinations just don't seem to be worth the effort. Here, we look at ten locations […]
The post 10 Hidden Destinations That Just Aren’t Worth Finding appeared first on Listverse.

Sharks spark emotions in nearly every human, but these amazing fish are more than just killing machines (and movie stars). In recent years, studies have revealed mind-bending abilities and survival strategies when faced with a rapidly changing world. Scientists also encountered many weird firsts. From virgin births to living for centuries, sharks are revealing addictive […]
The post Top 10 Fascinating Facts And Stories About Sharks appeared first on Listverse.

Writing can sometimes be seen as a kind of therapy, and people with traumatic pasts are often advised to write down their experiences. After all, authors are usually encouraged to write what they know. However, some people's backgrounds are more colorful than others. And for those with secrets in their past, writing from experience can […]
The post 10 Criminal Writers With Real Skeletons In Their Closets appeared first on Listverse.

When Netflix released their feature film Bird Box in 2018, many viewers were left questioning what the “monster” was that drove everyone to suicide. One of the online theories is that the monster represented “mass hysterical contagion,” nowadays known as mass psychogenic illness (MPI), where a single individual suffers a psychogenic illness that spreads to […]
The post 10 Disturbing Cases Of Mass Hysterical Contagion Like ‘Bird Box’ appeared first on Lis

Piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden is a worldwide problem. Today, ships from several navies patrol the area to keep the pirates at bay. But once in a while, the pirates manage to hijack a ship. When that happens, they will only release the ship after receiving a huge […]
The post 10 Shocking Facts About Somali Pirates appeared first on Listverse.

Historical landmarks like the pre-Columbian metropolis Teotihuacan, the famed Egyptian pyramids, and the enigmatic Easter Island enrapture us with their mystique. And they grow even more fascinating with each new discovery. From fine banquets at King Arthur's purported birthplace to an Aztec to salacious Pompeiian wall art, each of these finds illuminates history's most […]
The post 10 Amazing Secrets Recently Revealed At Historical Landmarks appeared...

While we are about to start a new year, 2018 has been a great year for science, especially for astronomy and space engineering. Experts and scientists have made many space discoveries and advances, some of which have attracted worldwide attention. However, many other discoveries have gone largely unnoticed by the public, although they are no […]
The post 10 Amazing And Little-Known Space Discoveries Of 2018 appeared first on Listverse.

A wedding is a beautiful ceremony that commemorates the union of two people on a journey of sharing the rest of their lives together. Each culture has its own customs as to how people get married, usually depending on religious beliefs and sometimes on superstitions as well. Some of these rituals are better known than […]
The post 10 Unusual Wedding Traditions From Around The World appeared first on Listverse.

When it comes to serial killers, some become famous, while others slip through the cracks, forgotten murderers who seem to have simply been overlooked by history. For example, Karl Denke, the Forgotten Cannibal himself, was lost to the dustbin of history almost instantly. Even today, with the advent of the Internet, some people who've done […]
The post 10 Twisted And Unbelievable Facts About The Happy Face Killer appeared first on Listverse.

With the holidays wrapping up here in the Western world, many of us still have our Christmas lights up, our bellies full, and plenty of other cheerful things hanging around to remind us of our recent celebrations. Holidays in this day and age are a great way for us to share, laugh, love, and make […]
The post 10 Holidays With Twisted, Dark, And Unusual Histories appeared first on Listverse.

Everybody knows there are eight planets in our solar system, the cucumber is a fruit, the carrot is a vegetable, and the Wright brothers made the first powered flight. But these well-known facts are only true depending on where you live. For people who live in Brazil, the Wright brothers did not make the first […]
The post 10 Facts That Are Only True Depending On Where You Live appeared first on Listverse.

With the celebration of a new year comes one of the most anticipated events these days: the New Year’s Eve fireworks. These fireworks shows are a common tradition around the world. People love the displays of bright colors and the figures that these pyrotechnic devices generate in the sky. Many others are also excited to […]
The post 10 Craziest Alternatives To New Year’s Fireworks appeared first on Listverse.

We hope we can help send you into the new year with a smile on your face. That’s why we compiled a list with some of the most uplifting, amusing, and inspiring stories of the week. It works well as a complement to the Saturday offbeat list. Unsurprisingly, this week’s list is particularly festive. We […]
The post 10 Uplifting Stories To Get You Through The Week (12/30/18) appeared first on Listverse.

The phrase “flesh-eating” is nightmarish enough to stop anyone dead in their tracks, conjuring up images of flesh falling off of the bone, deep black necrosis, or perhaps a zombie apocalypse in which the undead are biting flesh from bone. Be it flesh-eating zombies, flesh-eating animals, or, even more terrifying, flesh-eating microscopic organisms, the idea […]
The post 10 Nightmarish Flesh-Eating Pathogens That Consume Humans appeared first on Listverse.

Nobody cares about a lamp wick when massive Egyptian tombs are being reported by the media. Discoveries of tiny artifacts are often sidelined, but they do move human knowledge in powerful ways. In recent times, archaeologists listened to music made millennia ago and saw miniatures of giant icons. They found bizarre objects in burials and […]
The post 10 Times Small Artifacts Surprised Archaeologists appeared first on Listverse.

In biology class, we all hear the words “biodiversity,” “biotechnology,” and “biochemistry.” But here's another “bio”-beginning word for you: Extending from the ocean floor to about 10 kilometers (6 mi) above sea level is what we call the biosphere. It holds parts of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere. The biosphere influences biodiversity, which […]
The post 10 Different Types Of Earthly Biomes appeared first on Listverse...

The end is nigh. As the year comes to a close, it is time to take one last look at some of the quirkier stories that made the headlines. You can click here to catch up on some of the most significant and shocking developments of 2018. Most of the festive stories will be found […]
The post 10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (12/29/18) appeared first on Listverse.

Have you ever looked at a painting, drawing, or sculpture and wondered about the creator? Whose mind was it that birthed any creative genius? Sometimes, what you find is deeply unsettling but not altogether surprising. Prisons today formulate ways to encourage inmates to adopt art as a form of redemption, but it's clear that art […]
The post 10 Paintings And Artistic Creations By Criminals appeared first on Listverse.

The great names in history are swamped with facts that we hear about repeatedly. However, some tidbits fall through the cracks, only to be dusted off when researchers dig deeper. Often, the process unearths fresh facts and finds which inject more life, mystery, and quirks into historical accounts. From medical conditions that gave famous artists […]
The post 10 Fascinating Lesser-Known Facts About Famous People appeared first on Listverse.

Keeping up with the news is hard. So hard, in fact, that we spent the whole of 2018 rounding up the most mind-blowing stories for you each and every week, because we're nice like that. With New Year's approaching, now feels like the perfect time to look back on 2018 in news and pick the […]
The post 10 Mind-Blowing Things That Happened In 2018 appeared first on Listverse.

Self-immolation is suicide on principle. Religious self-immolation is the ancient practice of sacrificing the body and mind through suicide to make a statement for a cause that one feels deeply about. It’s a burned offering of the entire self. The practice can be traced back to ancient India but probably predates that. There have likely […]
The post 10 Moments In The History Of Sacrificial Religious Suicides appeared first on Listverse.

According to research led by the American Museum of Natural History in 2017, there are approximately 18,000 bird species on Earth—nearly double the amount previously thought. One of the study’s authors said that this number has concerning implications for conservation practices. Many bird species have already gone extinct due to predation or human activity. Despite […]
The post 10 Bizarre Bird Species appeared first on Listverse.

Drones have been causing panics these days. They spy on people in their homes, fall out of the sky without warning, and could be used for terrorist acts. Terrorists aren’t yet strapping bombs to drones, but they certainly could someday. And almost every government is not prepared. Within the last few years, hobbyists and mischief-makers […]
The post 10 Times Drones Shut Down Airports appeared first on Listverse.

When it comes to choosing a profession, most people pick jobs which are not only comfortable but also ones where they don’t have to deal with too many people. When people do enjoy working with the general public, they tend to prefer to work with the living rather than the dead. But there are some […]
The post 10 Gruesome Facts About Suicide And Death Cleanup appeared first on Listverse.

We all know T. rex as a huge, ferocious monster from the past that wants nothing more than to consume everything that lives. However, in real life, Tyrannosaurus rex hardly lives up to its Hollywood reputation. In fact, it is now widely believed in the scientific community that Tyrannosaurus rex was not a hunter at […]
The post 10 Lesser-Known Dinosaurs That Were Scarier Than Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared first on Listverse.

We consider the modern times to be advanced in every way. However, we forget that a lot of very awesome things have been discovered or invented that were, for one reason or another, lost to the winds of time. Some of them weren't just good for their own time. They also rival anything we have […]
The post 10 Surprisingly Awesome Things From History That We Somehow Lost appeared first on Listverse.

Ever wondered what that strange-looking plant sticking out of your front porch was or how ancient tribes had their Saturday night sesh? This list will outline a bunch of frankly bizarre drugs that, depending on where you live, you may just find on your morning walk, if not in your own backyard. Be warned, however: […]
The post 10 Crazy Drugs That Could Be Growing In Your Garden appeared first on Listverse.

Christmas is a time for bringing people together from all walks of life. It is about spreading cheer wherever you can. But life doesn’t always go our way, and many of us suffer hardships. We hope when we are hardest hit in those times that something or someone might turn things around. So here you […]
The post 10 True-To-Life Christmas Miracles appeared first on Listverse.

Musicians and bands touring the globe to play their music to the far reaches of the world has become a staple of the music industry. Just listening to music is one thing, but there is something quite exhilarating about seeing your favorite acts perform in the flesh. However, musicians and bands touring the world, it […]
The post 10 Times Musicians Were Banned From Playing In Certain Countries appeared first on Listverse.

People often say, “A picture paints a thousand words.” While that holds true for most pictures, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has for centuries continued to evade the understanding of art critics, historians, and the public. On display in the Louvre, the tiny portrait is often touted as "the best known, the most visited, the […]
The post 10 Mysteries Surrounding Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ appeared first on Listverse.

Christmas is a time for gift-giving, spending time with the family, and eating yourself into a near-comatose state. And, while these are admirable goals, it is also important to celebrate those who use the yuletide season to give back to their communities. Some people just embody the spirit of Christmas. From the volunteers in soup […]
The post 10 Times Christmas Was Saved appeared first on Listverse.

Humans have always been attracted to nature. Being the curious species that we are, we tend to love to wander in the great outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature (even if we’re just viewing pictures taken on the hikes of others). Many people love to be out and about, exploring different parts of the […]
The post 10 People Who Actually Fell Into A Volcano appeared first on Listverse.

While parents today may occasionally joke about crate-training their children, some parents of the recent past took to actually chaining their children up instead of parenting them. Sometimes, this was done to prevent them from running away. It was common in the early half of the 1900s to chain a runaway child to a chair […]
The post 10 Horrible Old Cases Of Children Kept In Chains appeared first on Listverse.

Parasites and pathogens are pretty terrifying things. Immune systems serve to mount a defense against these elusive little creatures. This is, in fact, how sexes came to be, as a means to mix the genes necessary to stir up the genetic pot, creating more stout and powerful immune systems as various microscopic invaders adapted to […]
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Sexual relations between humans and animals is actually legal in some countries. In others, it is a gray area and is neither legal nor illegal. However, centuries ago, bestiality was considered a grievous offense and commanded the death penalty. Lots of people have been hanged for bestiality. However, not all were guilty. Some were hanged […]
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If the week has got you down, this list might help lift your spirits. We looked at all the positive, inspiring, and amusing stories that made the headlines over the last few days and put them all into one list. It goes well with a side of quirkiness. There are a few tales to get […]
The post 10 Uplifting Stories To Get You Through The Week (12/23/18) appeared first on Listverse.

A wall, fossilized mud, a piece of pottery—they all have the potential to be pages in history. Some were colored and carved on purpose. Others were marked by accident but revealed dramatic information to archaeologists no less. The most valuable are the rare, even unique, glimpses back in time. From natural disasters to prehistoric hunts, […]
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The world is full of weird and wonderful things, but a person can hardly be expected to keep up with all of them. Luckily, we’re here to help. You can check the mind-blowing list for a rundown of all the crucial stuff going on in the world right here. In this list, we present to […]
The post 10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (12/22/18) appeared first on Listverse.

Most of us think of the holidays as a time to celebrate and be joyful. But it actually has become a tradition for controversies to pop up around Christmas. And this year is no different. In 2018, we have seen a series of controversies spring up over Christmas ads, decorations, greetings, songs, and trees. Christmas […]
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Warfare has been around for a very long time. As ancient mass graves have shown us, interactions between various groups of human beings haven’t always been peachy—if anything, they’ve often been nothing shy of horrific. And sometimes, horrific is actually the point of some forms of warfare, tactics intended to intimidate and scare the other […]
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Keeping up with the news is hard. So hard, in fact, that we've decided to save you the hassle by rounding up the most significant, unusual, or just plain old mind-blowing stories each week. This week was a mixed bag of news, with no one story standing out from the rest of the pack as […]
The post 10 Mind-Blowing Things That Happened This Week (12/21/18) appeared first on Listverse.

It’s always hard to be on the receiving end of criticism, especially if you’re an artistic type of person. You may pour your heart and soul into your work, only to have someone with possibly no talent trash your masterpiece publicly. Although most people can take criticism reasonably well, some people completely snap after reading […]
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When it comes to the need to survive, most organisms will do anything to stay alive. While self-preservation isn’t the ultimate goal of every life-form, it’s definitely up there as one of the most important facets of our existence. It is the satisfaction of successive goals which keep us alive and make our lives valuable, […]
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The Dolphin Communication Project, conducted by neuroscientist Dr. John Lilly and partly funded by NASA, was full of controversy and unusual situations. Hoping to bridge the gap in interspecies communication, Lilly wrote the book Man and Dolphin. It outlined observations that dolphins were capable of mimicking noises made by humans and the fascinating way that […]
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Britain has been having a bit of a rough time recently. Facing down the barrel of Brexit and the uncertainty of what comes next has left the people feeling somewhat tense. Perhaps because of this, Christmas has taken on a new meaning this year. People began putting up their decorations extra early to focus on […]
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Throughout the ages, humans have sought different ways to change their perceptions and alter their states of being. Many ordinary people, spiritual gurus, monks, and even priests have relied on shifting their conscious experience to achieve some sort of enlightenment or even simple joy. Euphoria, confusion, and delirium have all inspired and transformed people. Many […]
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